A Person to die for, All parts
by ShesaMadHatter
Summary: Due to everything being really confusing with chapters being seperate stories and all, here are all four parts in one. WARNING CHARACTER DEATH FIC
1. Part 1

_A/N I've never written a Numb3rs fanfic, but I read a few good Character deaths, and wanted to throw in my own. This was written in about two hours, so I apologize in advance for spelling errors and such. I spell like Charlie. *Big Grin* Also, any and all feedback is appreciated  
_

_Disclaimer- I don't own these Characters. I only subjected them to the most painful thing I could think of…. JK JK._

Don had always been prepared for his own death. It came with the territory. He had a will written, he knew how he wanted his funeral to go. He'd always suspected that he would be the first Eppes man to die. He was prepared, and at peace with that.

But even FBI agent Don Eppes hadn't been prepared for what had happened today.

It had started out like an ordinary day. Get up. Get dressed. He had the day off, so he'd missed Charlie that morning. Charlie had an early seminar, and Don had promised to meet him for lunch later.

But they never got to lunch.

At 9:37 Don got a call on his phone about a school shooting, with two professors being held hostage. When he asked what school, he nearly dropped the phone. _CalSci_. They didn't know which two professors, only that one was a mathematician, and one was a physics professor.

Don didn't have to think twice about which two professors it had to be.

When Don got there, David and Megan were already on sight.

"What happened?" He asked

"A kid by the name of Nate Gromi came into the school with three guns. Fired about seven times, hit four students, and killed one. Then, he barricaded himself in one of the labs with." David hesitated, "With Charlie and Larry."

Don took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. "Do we know why?" he asked tersely.

Megan came forward then, "Judging from his file. I would say anger. Nate was a B student, majoring in Physics. Until he got kicked out. Money problems. All of his checks were bouncing, and his credit cards were maxed out. He was behind on a semesters worth of class payments." She shook her head and then glanced up at the window.

Don followed her gaze and saw a kid looking through the blinds. Seeing them looking at him, Nate pulled away from the window.

Don gritted his teeth. "Have you made any contact with him?"

Megan shook her head. "We've called the room twice, but he refuses to answer the phone."

"Okay, well let me try." Don called the room.

It rang three times before the kid answered, "_Hello?"_

"Hello. Nate?"

"_Yes."_

"I'm Agent Don Eppes."

That got the kids attention,_ "Eppes?"_

"Yeah. You've got my brother Charlie up there."

"_He's one of them! He's one of the professors who ruined my life!"_

"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa! Just wait a minute." Don said loudly into the phone, he didn't like where this was going. "How is this Charlie's fault?"

"_He was one of my professors!" _

"But that doesn't make it his fault." Don argued, "Listen Nate. Why don't you just come out, and we can talk about this? There's all sort of solutions for this, there's financial aid, scholarships-"

"_No. Nobody can help me. I know what's going to happen after this. I'm going to jail. I have no future. The only thing I can do is try and take down the people who got me here."_

"No!" Yelled Don, but it was too late. Nate had already hung up. "Move in!" Don yelled at the team.

Then, without even putting on a vest, Don ran into the building. But not fast enough. Two gunshots echoed throughout the campus before Don kicked down the door and burst into the room.

Just in time to see Charlie fall. Time seemed to slow down to a crawl. Charlie had a slightly surprised look on his face, and he fell backwards onto the white tile floor. Blood staining his shirt.

"Charlie!" Don yelled, instantly heading towards his fallen brother, not even looking at Nate, who was still standing with the gun pointed at Charlie.

Then the gun switched targets. It went from one brother, to another.

Another shot echoed on the campus. This time, it went straight through Don's temple.

Don hadn't been prepared to die in front of his brother.

Two Days Later

Alan sat next to a hospital bed, watching his youngest son sleep. Charlie had finally stabilized, after two days of touch and go, the doctors could safely say that he would be fine.

Physically anyway. Emotionally would be an entirely different story. Alan still wasn't sure how he was going to break the news to Charlie. Partially because, he still hadn't accepted it himself.

Seconds after the third bullet had gone through Don's head, the rest of his team had gotton into the room. Realizing what he had done, Nate then put the gun to his own head. Larry was the only one left. Cowering a few feet away from Charlie.

Medical assistance came in right away, and began to work on Charlie. They got him to a hospital in record time.

Don was left in the room.

When Don's team realized that he was dead, they moved on to Charlie. Then when Charlie was sent to the hospital, they stopped.

Megan just sat next to Larry and cried. David sat in a lab chair, completely stunned. Nobody even bothered to look at Nate.

Megan broke the news to Alan. He had been surprisingly strong throughout the past two days. Constantly telling the Doctors to just do their jobs. Comforting Megan, Larry, Amita, and David. He'd known that there was a good chance that Don would die while working for the FBI. Don had talked to him about it. Told him that as long as it was to save somebody good, Don would be at peace with it.

Alan was pretty sure that Charlie was the best person that Don could have died for.


	2. Part 2

The Person to die for. Part 2

_A/N Due to popularity, this is part 2 of a person to die for. I honestly didn't expect such a positive response, so thank you for all your reviews. I expect this to fold into a four part series, now that I'm taking the time to write everybody else's reactions. So, thank you for all your reviews and feedback! Please send more! _

_Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of Numb3rs, but I think about them all the time. :D_

Alan left his son's hospital room to grab a coffee. He glanced at his watch. It was 10:04 in the morning. Exactly two days after Don had been shot. Even though Alan hadn't been there, he'd heard Megan talking about the sound of that third shot. How it echoed in her mind.

It echoed in Alan's too.

Larry was asleep in one of the plastic chairs outside of Charlie's room. Megan was leaning on him, not sleeping, just, leaning. Alan stopped next to her, and set his hand on her shoulder.

"It's 10:04." She whispered. Then she shut her eyes, hearing the same loud bang as Alan.

"Two days." Alan said quietly.

"Is that all?" Asked Megan, eyes still shut, "It feels so much longer than that."

Alan nodded. He knew the feeling. The first week after his wife died, he could have sworn an entire lifetime had gone by. He gave Megan's shoulder a small squeeze before heading back into Charlie's room.

For the millionth time, Alan took in the sight of his sleeping son. Wild curly hair all over the place, white gauze just barely visible from under the blanket that covered him. After a minute, Alan went back to the chair next to Charlie's bed, cradled his styrofoam cup, and waited.

Two hours later.

Charlie opened his eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling. He tried to sit up, but stopped at a sharp pain in his chest. He let out a small gasp

"Charlie?" Charlie turned his head towards the voice.

"Dad?"

The big man let out a long sigh of relief, "Yes."

Charlie struggled for a moment, "Where am I?"

"The hospital."

Charlie looked confused, "How did I get here?"

Alan frowned, "Charlie, what's the last thing you remember?" he asked cautiously.

Charlie tried to concentrate, and then put his hand to his forhead, "Umm… Going to bed last night."

"Last night, as in Monday night?' Alan clarified.

"Well yeah Monday night."

"Charlie, its Thursday."

"Oh."

"You don't remember anything about Tuesday?"

Charlie shook his head. "Dad, what happened Tuesday? And what happened to my chest? It hurts."

"You're in pain?" Alan grabbed onto the topic, trying to buy time to think.

"Well, a bit, but dad-" before Charlie could tell him that all he wanted was to know what was going on, Alan walked into the hallway.

"Can I get a nurse in here please?" He called

"Dad, what is going on?" Charlie asked.

"Just a minute,"

Larry burst in then, "What happened?" seeing Charlie up he speed over to the bed, "Charles." Larry then bent down and hugged Charlie.

An awkward moment passed before Charlie spoke, "Larry, I uh," he paused for a moment, "I know that something traumatic has happened, but could you please get off me?"

Larry didn't move.

"Seriously Larry, could you get off please."

"I'm sorry Charles, this is all my fault." Larry was rambling, he'd barely spoken in the past two days, now he seemed determined to spill everything now, "Nate was my student."

"Wait, Nate? Nate who?" Charlie tried to interrupt Larry, but to no avail.

"If I had tried to help him then none of this would have happened. You wouldn't have been shot, that other student, Paul Beckett would be alive."

"Wait, I got shot by Nate?"

Larry then dropped the bomb that Alan had been trying to avoid "Don would be alive-"

Charlie was stunned into silence. Megan tried to pull him away, "Larry."

"Its all my fault." Larry was falling apart. He finally went with Megan, after murmuring "My fault" a few more times.

Alan focused on Charlie, who's mouth had fallen open. "Charlie-"

Charlie turned his head to look at his father, "Don-" he swallowed dryly, "Don's dead?"


	3. Part 3

_A/N- Part 4 will be a separate story, because of the way parts 2/3 flow together. Again thank you for all the feedback! Part four will be posted within the next week._

_Disclaimer- I do not own these characters. However, I still write about them. _

Alan looked at Charlie's face. It said, "Please tell me that Larry has just gone crazy. Please tell me that Don's alive." But Alan couldn't tell him that.

"Yes, Charlie. Donny's dead."

Charlie took in a big breath and looked at the ceiling. "How?" his voiced cracked slightly as he held back tears.

Alan sat back into his chair, "Tuesday morning, a kid named Nate Gromi came in, shot four kids, killed another, and then took you and Larry hostage. He shot you, and then when Don came into the room, he shot him."

"He died to save me?" Charlie squeezed his eyes shut as tears began to slide down his face.

"This is not your fault Charlie." Alan quickly inserted

"That's not what I asked."

Alan thought for a moment, searching for the right words. "He died, trying to save his little brother, and his best friend. And he succeeded." He hoped those were the right words. He was never entirely sure what to say to Charlie when trying to comfort him. His wife always did, she knew how his mind worked, but Alan never did quite get Charlie.

Charlie opened his eyes, "I have to get out." He said. Then Charlie pushed himself up, grimacing at the pain. "I, I have to go and and" Charlie shook his head, and attempted to climb out of bed.

This was not the reaction that Alan had expected. He got up, and pushed his son back onto the bed, careful not to push on his chest. "Charlie, where do you think you're going?"

Charlie attempted to push himself up again, "Not here. I, I have to do something."

There was a loud beeping as Charlie's heart rate began to increase. "Charlie. You need to calm down." Alan tried to keep his voice down.

"Calm down?" Charlie acted like he'd never heard the meaning of the word, "Calm down? You just told me that my brother is dead because of me and you want me to calm down?"

"How is this going to help Charlie? How is you getting up, tearing out your stitches, having to go back into surgery, and then making everybody even more worried going to help? Think Charlie, what about Amita? And Larry? They're still alive." Alan regretted that last sentence the moment it came out of his mouth.

Charlie relaxed and stopped trying to get up. Gradually his heart rate went back down to a normal pace. "Where's Amita?" he asked

"She went to the house to grab a few things about half an hour ago. She should be back anytime now." Alan realized that he should have brought up Charlie's girlfriend sooner.

"So she's okay?"

"Yes. She wasn't even at the school yet." Alan assured him glad that Charlie was no longer in danger of tearing out any stitches.

Suddenly the door opened to reveal Amita.

"Speak of the devil." Alan said, trying to lighten the moment.

"Charlie!" Amita dropped the bag she had before heading straight to his bed. She hugged him tightly for a moment.

"Ouch!" Charlie croaked out.

Amita gasped, "Sorry!" She released him, but stayed on the bed next to him.

"I'll go get a nurse." Alan moved out of the room.

"Do you need anything?" Asked Amita.

"Uh. Something to drink maybe." Charlie's throat was dry.

"All right." Amita got up to follow Alan and harass the nurses for some pain meds and something to drink.

Charlie lay on the bed, soon surrounded by nurses, doctors, friends, and his father. But not Don.


	4. Part 4

A person to die for part 4

_A/N- Finished! But wow! This was the most difficult of all 4 parts. I don't want to spoil it, so I'll finish this note at the bottom_

_Disclaimer- I don't own these characters… you all know the rest_

Three Days later.

Amita knocked on the door.

"Just a minute." Called a voice from inside.

After a few seconds Alan opened the door, struggling with a tie. Amita laughed and stepped forward, "Let me help you with that."

"Thanks." He let out a sigh of relief.

"Why is it that women are always the ones to tie a tie, when men are the ones wearing them?" Asked Amita as she undid the knot that Alan had managed to make.

Alan laughed.

"Speaking of men, where's Charlie?" Amita asked after finishing Alan's tie.

Alan's tone instantly changed, "In the garage." He sounded sad, "I think that he's doing the same thing he did with his mother."

Amita frowned, Charlie had just gotton home from the hospital last night. He wasn't supposed to be doing much of anything.

"Is he even dressed?" She asked worriedly.

"He's been in there all night."

"You didn't try to get him?"

"He locked the door."

"How did he lock the door? I thought there wasn't a lock."

"There isn't."

Amita looked at him questioningly. Alan put a hand on her shoulder, "You'll see." He said as he pushed her towards the back door.

Amita headed to the garage, the door was shut, which was unusual. She tried to push it open, but it didn't move. Amita knocked, "Charlie!"

No response.

"Charlie!" Amita pushed on the door, now she was worried. He had seemed fine yesterday.

"I'm working." He called from inside.

"Charlie, we have to go."

"I'm not going."

"Your not going to your own brother's funeral?"

_Switch to Charlie's POV_

Charlie was surrounded by chalk boards. He'd created a little circle of them for himself, so that he was completely surrounded by math. It had taken all night, he'd been careful not to tear his stitches. The hardest part had been getting the hockey table in front of the door.

Amita was at the door, she wanted him to leave his circle. But Charlie felt safe in his circle, completely surrounded by math. If he could just keep working, maybe he would be able to forget about Don.

His chest hurt, Charlie had forgotton to bring the pain meds they gave him, and the ones he'd taken before sneaking out here weren't working anymore. He would wait until Amita and Dad left before going out and getting them.

"Charlie, you have to come." Amita wouldn't leave.

"I'm not going." He repeated.

She pushed against the door again, "How did you lock the door?"

"I pushed the hockey table against it."

"You- How?" Amita stumbled over her words in astonishment. "Are you okay?" Charlie reflected that her voice raised slightly in pitch when she was worried.

When he didn't answer for a moment she practically screamed, "Are you okay?!?"

"I'm fine Amita." Charlie hated making her worry.

"You aren't lying to me?" Her voice choked.

"Are you crying?" Charlie stood up automatically

This time she didn't answer.

"Amita?"

"What do you want me to say Charlie? Yes I'm crying." Now she sounded ticked.

"Why?" He asked incredulously.

"Because, my boyfriend was shot just a few days ago, and he's barricaded himself in his garage instead of going to his brother's funeral."

From that point of view, what he was doing did sound kind of bad. Charlie got up and began to pull away the table, just enough for her to open the door.

When she didn't open the door, he walked over and did. Amita was sitting on the ground, hugging her legs.

Charlie's heart broke. What a mess. Now he had a dead brother, and a very upset girlfriend. Charlie couldn't help but feel that all of this was his fault. He still couldn't remember anything from Tuesday, but he knew that Don had gone into that room to save him. And now he'd upset Amita.

Charlie sat next to her, and pulled her head into his lap. She still hugged her legs as he buried his face in her hair, "I'm sorry." He whispered.

Tears spilled onto his pants and she let out a small sob. "I don't want to go alone."

"Dad will be there." Charlie said.

"I want you to go Charlie. Why can't you go to Don's funeral?"

Charlie paused for a moment, "I think its because if I go, then it will all be too real. If I go, if I see him put into the ground, then I'll be giving up hope. I mean, I know that Don's-" Charlie cut off there, not wanting to say it aloud. He cleared his throat, "I just don't think I can handle-" he stopped again.

"But don't you think you'll regret not going?" Amita asked.

"I don't really know."

"What about Don? Wouldn't he want you to be there?"

"I don't-" Charlie stopped, and thought for a moment, "He was the one who made me go to moms." He'd forgotten about that. Don had practically dragged him to his mother's funeral.

"Do you regret that now?"

Charlie shook his head.

Amita sat up, and looked at him, "Then why won't you go?"

Charlie looked at her, searching her face, while at the same time, cross examining everything Amita had said in the past few minutes. He calculated everything, and the math told him what he'd known all along.

He would go to Don's Funeral.

_A/N Cont. Now you can see. I really had to think about this one for a bit to figure out where exactly this would go. Thank you for all the support! Feedback is welcome._

_Oh, and I have been told to put in an apology for any crying that took place. Apparently the killing of characters does that to people. *Evil Grin* _


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